Category Archives: California

Brown signs bill to fix fire fee provisions

From Capital Press:

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill that reduces penalties for late payments of rural fire prevention fees and waives the fees for landowners who’ve lost their residences to fire.

SACRAMENTO — The more than 800,000 rural California residents charged $150 per structure for fire prevention will get some relief in certain cases.

Gov. Jerry Brown this week signed legislation that reduces the penalty for late payments from 20 percent to 10 percent per month and waives the fee for homeowners who lose their residence to a wildfire or other natural disaster.

Assembly Bill 2042 was authored by Assemblyman Brian Dahle, R-Bieber, and passed unanimously in both legislative chambers.

“Like most north state residents, I’d rather see the fee simply repealed,” Dahle said in a statement. “In the meantime, this bill reforms some of the worst aspects of the fee. In particular, it was egregious that the law taxed homeowners who’d lost their homes to fire.”

Continue reading

Meadow Fire grows to 700 acres

ABC News is reporting that the week old Meadow Fire has grown to 700 acres.

From a smaller 100-acre blaze, the fire has suddenly flared up, jumping to 300 acres yesterday and igniting an additional 400 acres overnight.

From their website:

A wildfire in Yosemite National Park grew to 700 acres Sunday, with about 100 visitors rescued by helicopter, park officials said.

Sunday’s strong winds and high temperatures fueled the fire, park spokeswoman Kari Cobb told ABC News.

Hikers were airlifted from Half Dome peak, a popular rock formation, as well as nearby campgrounds and hiking trails, Cobb said.

“We actually had a number of helicopters here in the park that were able to airlift these individuals back to Yosemite Valley so that they could be out of the way of the fire,” Cobb said.

Continue reading

Meadow Fire in Yosemite

The Meadow Fire is burning in the greater Little Yosemite Valley area and is at 400 acres.

All trails from the top of Nevada Fall to Merced Lake, including trails leading to that area, are closed. Additionally, the trail from Sunrise Lakes Trailhead to Sunrise Lakes and Sunrise Lakes High Sierra Camp, and the trails from the camp to the trail along the Merced River east of Little Yosemite Valley, are closed.

Currently, four type 1 helicopters, three type 3 helicopters, three air tankers, one air attack, six hotshot crews, and other resources are assigned to the fire.

Continue reading

California on Vimeo

A GORGEOUS time-lapse of our beautiful state like you’ve probably never seen it. It took four years to put this together; “The average clip took 1-3 hours to film and another 3-10 hours to edit. Several cuts are from clips more than 24 hours long. I shot 423 clips over four years to make this, but the majority of the 67 clips ultimately used were shot in the last 12 months.” – Hal Bergman

Take four minutes and watch this awesome video!